USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced two grants that will create educational opportunities in math and science for students interested in bioenergy and bio-based products. NIFA awarded Corinne Rutzke at Cornell University $4,999,940 to provide teachers from grades 8 through the undergraduate level with a strong footing in multi-disciplinary content and research-based training materials and activities …
Ethanol By the Numbers
U.S. exports of ethanol remained strong in October at 34.9 million gallons, according to the latest government information, with the total of January-October at a record high 286 million gallons. The current forecast is for the U.S. to export more than 325 million gallons of ethanol this year, more than double the previous record of 158 million gallons in 2008. …
USDA Loan Guarantee Funds Hawaiian Biodiesel Turbine
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has guaranteed a $110 million loan for a Hawaiian utility cooperative that has biodiesel as part of its power generation efforts. BusinessWeek reports the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative received the federal guarantee: [T]he guarantee includes nearly $73 million for hydroelectric plant improvements and a 10-megawatt naphtha/biodiesel fueled combustion turbine. [Hawaii’s Sen. Daniel] Inouye says the …
New USDA Reports Find Less Corn, More Ethanol
The latest reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture are lowering the forecast for this year’s corn crop, but raising the expected use of corn for ethanol. Corn production is now forecast at 12.5 billion bushels, down 1 percent from the October forecast and down 4 percent from last year’s record production of 13.1 billion bushels. The reason for the …
USDA Looks Into Pennycress for Biodiesel
The USDA is looking into turning a common weed into biodiesel. Researchers with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have found that field pennycress, better known in some circles as stinkweed, puts out a large amount of oilseeds good for making the green fuel: Field pennycress belongs to the Brassicaceae family, along with canola, camelina and mustard-other prolific producers of oil-rich …
Vilsack Tours Georgia Ethanol Plant
Following up on the biofuels initiatives that he announced last week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited First United Ethanol, LLC (FUEL) located in Mitchell County, Georgia on Monday to highlight the importance of ethanol production in all parts of the nation. “The southeast is poised to really assist us in creating new biorefineries with a wide variety of feedstocks that …
Vilsack Defends Ethanol in WSJ Letter
In a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal published Monday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack responded to an editorial last week criticizing EPA’s decision to allow higher blends of ethanol in our fuel as politically motivated. Defending and clarifying the EPA ruling, Vilsack wrote, “The EPA’s decision to allow the increased use of ethanol in some automobiles is …
Vilsack to Visit Georgia Ethanol Plant
First United Ethanol of Georgia, better known as FUEL, will host U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on Monday, October 25th. Secretary Vilsack will be accompanied by U.S. Representative Sanford Bishop and U.S. Representative Jim Marshall. “We are very excited about this opportunity to speak face to face with one of the most important policy makers in America. We look …
USDA Announces Biofuels Initiatives
As part of the Obama Administration’s effort to promote production of fuel from renewable sources, create jobs and mitigate the effects of climate change, Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced a series of measures during a speech to the National Press Club in Washington. “Domestic production of renewable energy, including biofuels, is a national imperative and that’s why USDA is working …
Ugly Biodiesel Brewer Beauty to Farmers, Businesses
It’s not very pretty … but it’s a thing of beauty to farmers, school administrators and even some businesses that want to brew their own biodiesel. A couple of weeks ago, I posted a story from the Flint (MI) Journal about Onsite Energy LLC‘s new Genesee Biodiesel Processor, a first-of-its-kind, automatic machine that can make cooking oil into biodiesel with …